But when Tapper and Dr. David
Shuter, a Florida-based plastic surgeon,
came upon the idea that became illuMask
in late 2012, he didn’t quite know what
he had on his hands. “The idea of ‘Let’s
make a phototherapy mask for acne’ was
on a list of concepts for a few months before we took a serious look at it in January
2013,” he recalls. “We made a prototype,
but we were skeptical it would work and
be affordable. We gave a few of the prototypes out to folks to test — and they
didn’t want to give them back. After that,
it was a big whirlwind until we started
During that process, Tapper’s company
gained $4 million in a round of funding
led by SWaN & Legend Venture Partners in Leesburg, Va. When the product
earned solid retail success, Tapper and
his team started to consider the DR campaign that’s currently in rollout. And that
plan caught the eye of more investors.
The recent announcement that Johnson

& Johnson Development Corp., theventure capital subsidiary of the majorCPG marketer, invested $20 million inTapper’s business continued illuMask’smomentum.

But, as Tapper contends, such success
is nothing without — first — the idea for
a great product.

A Stretch and a Spin

“Toys, candy, beer, dish cleaners.”No, that’s not a random assortmentof words. It’s Tapper’s answer when askedwhat types of products he’s been involvedwith during his 25 years in the productdevelopment world. “I’ve never had areal job,” he adds with another chuckle.“When I got out of college, I took a job atCap Toys, my family’s company where Iran the candy division.”Tapper has received nearly 50 com-mercialized patents and he’s beeninvolved with such notable productsas: the iconic children’s’ toy StretchArmstrong™; interactive candy Spin-Pop™; battery-powered toothbrush theSpinbrush™; interactive party favor theOriginal Goody Bag™; and home draftbeer product Tap King™.

“Our family sold Cap Toys to Hasbro,the first of a number of family businessesthat were eventually bought by largerconglomerates,” Tapper says. “I startedTapper Candies after we sold Cap Toysand eventually sold the company and itsHallmark. The Spinbrush business even-tually sold to Procter & Gamble. We soldTap King to Lion Nathan, whose parentcompany is Kirin. We still own the NorthAmerican rights, and after the sale LionelRichie became the spokesperson.”But Tapper still credits the toy busi-ness with forging his ethic. “Don’t fall inlove with any product,” he says. “Alwayskeep moving on to the next one quicklyand make sure you manufacture with bothspeed and quality in mind. And always beable to think quickly on your feet.”

Putting It All Together

With illuMask, Tapper has applied thisethos to the beauty market. “Thinkingfirst about manufacturing: how are wegoing to get LEDs into a mask?” Tapperasks. “We had to invent the tooling tomanufacture the illuMask. And we madeWhile the originalDRTV campaignpromotes illuMask’santi-acne device, ananti-aging version isamong a number ofproducts also plannedfor rollout by the LaLumiere team.COVERSTORY